Endless Winter
by Erin T. Aardvark
Summary: My Little Pony teams up with the Mario Brothers to stop an evil witch from turning Ponyland into a winter wonderland forever
1. Chapter 1

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: A little backstory on this one. This was originally written in either the very late 1990's, or the very early 2000's. It was also the start of my (very abysmal) My Little Pony/Monkees crossovers, and now I consider them to be "Old Shames." I rewrote a few of them, but I never rewrote the first one until now. It's still a crossover, but now, instead of Monkees, I'm pairing it with "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" (old habits die hard). I hope this turns out better than the old one did! Anyway, My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro, and "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" characters belong to Nintendo. Jump Shot belongs to me, and Rainbow is the name I gave the "Mystery Pony" seen in the "Midnight Castle" episode, so she belongs to Hasbro._

Winter was almost over. Baby Tiddlywinks couldn't wait. She wanted to get out and play in the sunshine. Everyone was tired of cold, ice, snow, snow ponies, snowball fights, and winter all together.

"Today first day of spring!" Baby Ribbon shouted, excitedly.

Every single baby pony cheered in delight. Frankly, all the adult ponies were glad winter was almost over, too. The Big Brothers were sick of shoveling snow. Truly was upset because she only had one cute winter outfit and she got so tired of wearing the same thing more than once. Heart Throb didn't think the snow was very romantic as it was when it first started to fall, and Buttons Slugger, since he so tired from shoveling snow, they slept all the time.

"Winter can't be over soon enough!" Gusty shouted.

"I wonder how they're taking it at Flutter Valley?" Medley asked.

"They're probably frozen by now," Bow Tie said.

"Well, at least tomorrow is the first day of spring," North Star replied. "It's just been too cold to fly."

The others nodded. It seemed everyone was happy that winter was over, except for one person: the Ice Princess, Frostina, that lived in the Frozen North, far from Ponyland. She lived in an ice castle and loved the cold.

"Every year I go through the same thing," she said. "I have to sit for three seasons until the fun arrives. Where's my spell book? I'll see that winter is here to stay for good!"

Frostina walked along her throne room, looking for her spell book. It wasn't in it's proper place. However, she figured she knew who had taken it.

"RAINBOW!" she screamed. A white pony with pastel rainbow mane and tail entered the throne room. She had a rainbow with two clouds at either end on her hind quarters.

"You called, your majesty?" she asked.

"Yes," Frostina said. "Where is my spell book? Did you take it again?"

"Well, uh, I, you see, uhhh . . ."

"You had better tell me the truth, Rainbow, if you wish your brother to remain healthy."

"Yes I took it. But I just wanted to look through it!"

"Where is it?"

"In the main hallway."

"Very good, Rainbow. Now go fetch it for me."

"Yes, your majesty."

Rainbow galloped off. In reality, she was looking for a spell that would free her brother from a spell cast upon him by Frostina. She returned with the spell book. Frostina took it from her and began to turn the pages, muttering "endless winter" over and over under her breath.

"Ah ha," she said. "Here it is. The spell for an endless winter. I need these ingredients, eye of newt, toe of dog, wool of bat, tongue of frog, slime from a sea slug, snakes, snails, tails of a puppy . . ."

Rainbow began to look a little green. The ingredients were making her sick.

"And the final ingredient for the concoction," Frostina continued. "The spirit of a baby pony."

"A baby pony?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes. It's a shame you're not a baby pony like you once were, Rainbow. And neither is your stupid brother. I'm going to have to go to Ponyland to find a baby pony. But first, I'm going to have to cast a spell on the world so it will remain winter until I get the spell finished."

"Why can't you just cast that spell?"

"Because this spell is only temporary. It will wear off eventually."

Frostina held her amulet to her crystal orb and put a spell on Ponyland and the rest of the world so it would stay winter. Then she whistled for her vulture, Jade.

"Come, Jade," she said. "We're going to Ponyland."


	2. Chapter 2

Later in the day, North Star, Firefly, and Masquerade went over the rainbow to bring Megan, Danny, and Molly to Ponyland for the Spring Festival.

"I'm glad the snow's almost gone," Masquerade said.

"It's been a long winter," Megan said. "I can't wait for spring."

"Yeah, and baseball season!" Danny shouted.

When the three Pegasus ponies arrived in Ponyland with their human friends, they noticed something was off. It was cold and the sun was covered by gray clouds.

"What gives?" Firefly asked. "It's the first day of spring and snow's all over the ground. And it doesn't look like it's going to melt."

"So what?" Danny asked. "It's snowed on the first day of spring before! It's no big deal!"

"I sense something is wrong," Galaxy said.

"What else is new?" Masquerade muttered under her breath.

"We have to wear winter clothes s'more, Mama?" Baby Lofty asked her mother.

"Well, maybe for a little while longer," Lofty said. "Maybe it's just going to be a cloudy day. Why don't you babies go build a snow pony or have a snowball fight?"

The babies groaned. They had been doing that all winter. They just went running wild in the snow when Frostina arrived, secretly. She couldn't believe her luck! There were many baby ponies to choose from.

"But how do I choose the right one?" she asked herself. She decided to trust her amulet. She rubbed it and said,

"Oh great spirits of magic, which baby pony should I choose?"

Her amulet lit up and darkened everything (only for Frostina to see) and shone a light on Ember. Frostina smiled. The baby pony that was different than all the rest would be perfect for the spell. She got on her vulture and took to the air. This time, not only did the baby ponies see her, but so did Firefly and Megan as well.

"Who that?" Baby Shady asked.

"Don't know," Baby Half Note said.

Frostina landed and walked toward Ember with a smile that looked so sweet it had to be fake. Ember started to back toward the nursery.

"Come on, darling," Frostina said. "I won't hurt you."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Firefly asked.

"Stay out of this, pegasus," Frostina shouted. "This is between me and the baby pony. I have plans."

"What kind of plans?"

"Endless winter! And I need a baby pony, and she's perfect!"

Frostina produced a blast of cold wind out of her hands. That distracted Firefly, Megan, and the rest of the baby ponies, while she grabbed Ember by her mid section and ran to Jade.

"Firefly!" Ember screamed. "Help me!"

"Hey, you can't do that!" Firefly shouted.

"Let her go right now!" Megan demanded.

Frostina just rolled her eyes as Jade took off. Firefly and Megan went back to Paradise Estate to get the Rainbow of Light, just in case they needed it. Then, Firefly took to the air and followed Frostina and Jade.

"The rest of you baby ponies go back to the Estate and tell the other ponies what happened!" Megan shouted. "I just hope Twilight doesn't have a fit."

"I hope not either," Firefly said. "She treats Ember like she was her own baby."

Firefly and Megan followed Frostina for awhile before she realized she was being followed.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the cavalry," she laughed. "You're friends are no match for me, little one."

"Please don't hurt my friends," Ember begged.

"Oh, I won't hurt them. They can't fight me anyway."

Frostina happened to look behind her, and she saw Firefly and Megan still chasing her. She held up her amulet, and a blast of wind flew from it, and it hit Firefly, blowing her backward.

"Whooaaaa!" Firefly shouted. "Sorry, Megan! I didn't see it coming!"

"Neither did I," Megan said.

Suddenly, the blast of wind turned into a tornado, and Firefly and Megan were sucked inside of it.

"I feel like Dorothy in _The Wizard of Oz_," Megan said. "I wonder where this is going to take us?"

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see!" Firefly shouted.

Megan nodded, and held on to Firefly's mane tightly. It was about all she could do.


	3. Chapter 3

The tornado dropped Megan and Firefly on the ground of a grassy field. The first thing they noticed was it was warm. Megan had to take off her winter gear.

"I wonder where we are?" she asked.

"Wherever it is, it beats Ponyland for right now!" Firefly shouted. "Come on. We'd better look around and find out what this place is called."

"Right, and get back to Ponyland."

Megan climbed onto Firefly's back, and the pink pegasus flew off. As the two flew around, they saw houses that looked like they were made out of mushrooms.

"Looks like some place the Moochick would like to visit," Firefly said. "At least we know someone lives here. Maybe they'll know how to get back to Ponyland."

Firefly was about to land, when she suddenly heard a howling wind. Both she and Megan looked, and saw another tornado heading right for them.

"Oh no!" Firefly shouted. "Not again!"

"Maybe the Rainbow of Light can take care of this," she said.

Megan took the heart-shaped locket off, and was about to open it, when the tornado slammed into her and Firefly, causing Megan to accidentally drop the locket.

"Oh no! The rainbow!" she shouted.

"Look out below!" Firefly shouted, as the tornado dropped her and Megan onto the ground, and flew into the window of a nearby castle.

"Oh great!" Firefly groaned. "Now what do we do?"

"We'd better get the Rainbow back," Megan said. "Can you fly up to that window, Firefly?"

"Sure!" Firefly said. "Hop on!"

Megan climbed aboard, and Firefly flew up to the castle window. Inside the room were two mustachioed men, sleeping. One of them wore a red hat and red overalls, and the other wore a green hat and overalls. The locket was inside the room, still in the tornado, but it had deposited the locket around the man in red's large, bulbous nose. He didn't even notice. He was snoring too loudly.

"Oh brother!" Firefly groaned. "Now what?"

"I guess I'll just have to go get it," Megan said, shrugging.

"Yeah," Firefly said, nodding. "After all, you're the only one of us with hands!"

Megan climbed through the window as Firefly watched. She carefully moved toward the man in red, making sure not to wake him up. She reached for the locket, but the man shifted his position, turning on his side. Megan sighed and tried again. As she was about to slip it over his head, an alarm clock went off. The man in green reached over to shut it off, and saw a strange girl right next to the man in red's bed.

"Ahh!" he screamed.

"Ahh!" Megan screamed.

"Ahh!" Firefly screamed.

"What's with all the screaming?" the man in red asked, yawning.

"Look, kid," the man in green said. "I don't know who you are, or what you're doing here, but this is private property!"

"Yeah," the man in red said. "Don't you know trespassing is against the law?"

"But you don't understand," Megan said. "You're wearing my locket."

"Locket?"

The man in red looked down, but he didn't see anything that even resembled a locket.

"Where?" he asked. "I don't see anything."

"It's around your nose, bro," the man in green said, grabbing the locket, and giving it back to Megan.

"Oh," the man in red said. "Sometimes when I'm asleep, I wish I was awake. Sorry if my brother and I scared you, though."

"Yeah, we don't usually get visitors that sneak in through the bedroom window," the man in green said.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, too," Megan said. "Maybe you can help us."

"Who's us?" the man in red asked.

"Me and my friend, Firefly," Megan said. "She's outside."

Before anybody could say anything else, the bedroom door opened, and in ran a young woman with long red hair, wearing a pink dress and gold crown. She was followed by a little person wearing a red vest, white shorts, and a large white hat with red polka-dots. He looked like a mushroom.

"What was all the screaming?" the mushroom man asked.

"There's a girl in our bedroom," the man in red said. "Somehow or another, I woke up wearing her locket."

"How were you wearing her locket?" the woman asked, confused. Then she turned to look at Megan. "And who are you, and how did you get inside the castle?"

"My name is Megan, and I got in through the window," Megan said.

"Nice to meet you," the man in red said. "I'm Mario, and these are my brother Luigi, and our friends Princess Toadstool, and Toad."

"How could you get in through the window?" Luigi asked. "You must be some climber to get all the way up . . . . YIKES!"

Luigi moved the curtain away from the window, only to reveal Firefly hovering there, flapping her wings. Once Luigi saw her, he practically jumped ten feet.

"A flying horse!" Princess Toadstool shouted.

"Pony," Firefly corrected.

"And a talking one at that!" Toad shouted.

"Yeah, Megan had the same reaction when we first met, too," Firefly said. "Say, mind if I come in? My wings are getting awfully tired!"

"Oh, sure," Mario said, standing aside.

"Thanks!" Firefly shouted, flying inside. "Whew! What a relief!"

"That explains how you managed to get up here," Mario said. "But what are you doing here in the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"It's kind of a long story," Firefly said. "But we have to get back to Ponyland right away!"

"Ponyland?" Luigi repeated.

"Yeah, that's where we came from," Firefly said. "This evil witch wants to make an endless winter back in Ponyland! She needed a baby pony for the plan, so she came to Dream Valley and just took one of the baby ponies!

"She just up and took a defenseless little baby pony?" Luigi asked. "Just like that?"

"Wow, and I thought ol' Koopa Stoopa was low!" Toad shouted.

"Megan and I chased after her," Firefly continued, "and she somehow sent us here. Now we don't know how to get back!"

"Hmm, that's a problem," Mario said. "I'm not even sure how we can get you back there."

"Yeah, we don't even know where Ponyland is," Luigi said.

While the Mario Bros. were trying to figure out how to get to Ponyland, Frostina was sitting on her throne, looking at Megan, Firefly, and their new friends through her crystal orb. Rainbow was watching, as well as Frostina's pet cat.

"Look at those fools," Frostina laughed. "They'll never stop my endless winter!"

"How did you send them away, your highness?" Rainbow asked.

"Simple. I cast a spell! What else? Watch! I'll send them even _further_ away now!"

Frostina began the spell. This time, her cat freaked out when he saw the tornado and clawed at it.

"No!" Frostina shouted. "No, you might bring them back, you stupid flea bag!"

Apparently, she was right. The tornado raced through the castle's window and scooped not only Megan and Firefly, but Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad as well. All six began twirling around inside the funnel.

"Hey, I'm getting dizzy!" Toad shouted.

"Hang on, everybody!" Firefly shouted.

"To what?!" Luigi shouted.

Thanks to the cat's disruption of the spell, instead of the tornado sending our heroes to another land, it brought them right back to Ponyland. It dropped them off in front of Paradise Estate, and disappeared.

"Now _that's_ what I call a wild ride!" Mario shouted.

"That was kinda fun," Toad said. "Can we do it again?"

"No!" the others shouted in unison.

"Brrr!" Princess Toadstool shouted, shivering. "It's freezing!"

"Welcome to Ponyland," Firefly said. "Sorry about the weather. It's usually so beautiful this time of year. Come on, we'll introduce you guys to the other ponies."

Before they could even open the door, Twilight raced outside, knocking Toad off his feet, and accidentally stepping on him.

"Toad!" Princess Toadstool shouted.

"Did you find her?" Twilight asked.

"Her who?" Luigi asked.

"Ember," Firefly said. "The baby pony we told you about. And no, Twilight, we didn't. We got blown into another dimension and maybe got some help. These are Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad."

"Or what's left of him, anyway," Luigi said.

"Oh!" Twilight gasped, when she realized she was standing on Toad. "Oh dear, I'm _so_ sorry! Are you okay?"

"No, Mommy! I wanna drive the _pink_ one!" Toad said, dazedly, and fell into the snow face first.

"He'll be okay in a few minutes," Princess Toadstool said.

"Megan and Firefly explained the problem," Mario said. "Now what I suggest to do is go find the castle and fight this Ice Princess or whoever she is."

"My kinda guy!" Gusty shouted.

"That's a good as plan as any," Bow Tie said. "I say a group of you go. Then use the Rainbow of Light."

"Hey, yeah!" Fizzy shouted. "That's a great idea!"

"Okay, then," Mario said. "Luigi and I will go with the group. The princess and Toad should stay here and maybe help keep an eye on the other baby ponies, just in case this witch comes back and takes another one."

"Huh?" Luigi asked. "Wait a minute, Mario! Why do I have to go?!"

"Because we're the Mario Brothers!" Mario shouted. "We do _every_thing together!"

"I was afraid he'd say that," Luigi mumbled under his breath.

Fizzy, Buttons, Gusty, Surprise, Firefly, Ribbon, Cupcake, Locket, Galaxy, and Sundance volunteered to go with the Mario Bros. and Megan, while everyone else stayed behind.

"Wait for me!" Twilight shouted. "I'm coming to!"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Twilight," Firefly said.

"Why not?" Twilight asked. "My baby's in danger!"

"I hate to get technical," Paradise said. "But Ember's not your baby, Twilight. And I don't think you should go when you're so hysterical."

"Okay, but be careful."

"We will," Firefly said.

Megan climbed onto Sundance, while Mario climbed on Surprise. Luigi stayed standing, for the moment.

"What are you waiting for, bro?" Mario asked.

"I get seasick on horses," Luigi said. "Guess I'll just have to stay here."

"Oh no you don't!" Mario shouted. He climbed off Surprise, grabbed his brother by the overalls, and dragged him over to Buttons.

"Now hop on!" he shouted.

"But . . . . but . . . ." Luigi said.

"No buts!" Mario shouted, practically pushing his brother onto the back of the lavender unicorn. "Now get up there and let's go!"

"Don't I have a choice?" Luigi asked.

"No," Mario said.

"Just checking," Luigi said. Then he heaved a sigh, and climbed onto Cupcake's back.

Once the humans were mounted, the group went off in search of Frostina.

"Be careful!" Princess Toadstool shouted, waving.

"Hurry back!" Twilight shouted.

"I hope they don't have any trouble," Paradise said.

"Don't worry!" Gingerbread shouted. "I'm sure everything will be just fine! After all, they have the Rainbow of Light! What could go wrong?"

"If the Mario Bros are with them?" Toad asked. "Practically everything."


	4. Chapter 4

The rescue party went along for what seemed like a hundred miles. It was starting to get colder.

"I don't think I can fly anymore," Surprise said.

"I told you you needed to go on a diet, Mario," Luigi said.

"Hey!" Mario shouted, indignantly.

"It's not you, Mario," Surprise said. "It's just freezing out here, that's all."

"Well, it could be worse," Mario said, shrugging. "We could be in Alaska."

"Or the North Pole," Sundance said.

"Then we'd see Santa Claus," Fizzy said. "Gee, I wish we were there now."

"Forget it, Fizzy," Gusty said. "We have a mission, you know!"

"Oh yeah," Fizzy said, sheepishly.

The ponies, Megan, and the Mario Bros. continued on. They reached the castle, only to find it surrounded by a moat.

"Can you unicorns wink across there?" Megan asked.

"Wink?" Mario and Luigi said in perfect unison.

"It's how the unicorns go from one place to another," Locket explained. "All the unicorns have magic powers. All of them can wink in and out, and they also can do one specified trick. Gusty can make the wind blow, Fizzy can blow bubbles, Buttons can move things, Galaxy can make it warm, and Ribbon can read minds."

"Sorry I asked," Luigi muttered to Mario. Mario just nudged his brother in the shoulder for that.

"There's no place to wink to," Buttons said. "Not a ledge or anything."

"Too bad that moat's not frozen over," Fizzy said.

"It's the only thing _not_ frozen over," Luigi said, teeth chattering.

"Wait a minute!" Mario shouted, snapping his fingers. "Bro, you just gave me an idea! Fizzy, you can make bubbles right?"

"Yeah?" Fizzy asked.

"And Gusty, you can make wind blow right?" Mario asked.

"Uh huh," Gusty said. "Why?"

"Well," Mario said, "I was just thinking that Fizzy can blow as many bubbles as she can over the moat and Gusty can probably blow wind cold enough so they'll freeze."

"I don't know if I can do that," Gusty said. "It's kind of hard to blow a big blast of wind for a little pony like me."

"Come on, sure you can, Gusty," Fizzy said. "You can do anything!"

"Well, okay," Gusty said. "I'll try. Hit it, Fizzy!"

"I'm going to need total concentration," Fizzy said.

Fizzy squeezed her eyes shut and made her horn light up. Millions of bubbles produced. Gusty took a deep breath, made her horn light up, and blew Fizzy's bubbles toward the moat. She blew a little harder to make it colder. Finally, the moat began to freeze over.

"All right, Gusty and Fizzy!" Firefly shouted.

"You did it!" Surprise shouted.

"Maybe not yet," Mario said. "I'm not sure if this ice'll hold all of us."

"I'll go first," Cupcake said. "If it'll hold a pony, it'll hold anyone."

Cupcake walked carefully onto the ice. She almost slipped a couple of times, but continued along slowly. Suddenly, she lost her footing completely, and fell into the ice. The impact caused it to crack. Cupcake immediately ran back to the others before she could fall in.

"There's no way it's going to hold," she said. "I'm not even sure it will hold you, Mario, and Luigi, Megan!"

"Megan, maybe," Luigi said. "But Mario? Forget it!"

"_Very_ funny!" Mario shouted, sarcastically, giving his brother a dirty look."

"Looks like there's no getting inside now," Luigi said. "Too bad. Let's go home."

"Hold it just a minute!" Buttons shouted, grabbing the back of Luigi's overalls with her teeth.

"We can't go back now!" Locket shouted. "We haven't saved Ember yet!"

"But there's no way we can get across the moat and inside the castle!" Luigi argued.

"I think there might be a way," Firefly said. She carefully walked over to the moat, and stomped on the ice until she managed to make a small hole in it.

"Okay, Megan, call upon the sea ponies!" she shouted.

"Sea Ponies?" Mario and Luigi asked in unison.

Megan walked over to the hole, pulled a small, scallop shell out of her pocket, and dropped it into the moat. Several minutes later, Wave Jumper, Seawinkle, and Sea Light appeared before our heroes, cracking through the moat.

"Shoop-ee-doo, shoop-shoop-ee-doo!" they sang.

"Hi, Sea Ponies," Firefly said. "Do you think you can help us get us inside the castle?"

"Sure," Wave Jumper replied.

"No problem," Seawinkle said.

"Just hop on the shell!" Wave Dancer said.

The three Sea Ponies dove underneath the water, and returned carrying a large ponies, Megan, and the Mario Bros. climbed aboard the shell and the Sea Ponies took them around to a wall.

"There's an icicle up there that's a lever," Wave Dancer said.

"Forget it," Surprise said. "I don't think it would be a good idea for one of us to pull it. It might break."

"I'll pull it," Mario said. "Fly me up there, Firefly."

Firefly and Mario flew up to the lever. Mario grabbed it and pulled. A secret door opened.

"Everybody in!" Mario called.

The rescue party snuck into the castle, not knowing what they were getting themselves into. It wasn't easy finding their way around, however. There wasn't any light.

"Boy is it dark," Buttons said. "I can barely see a thing!"

"And cold," Mario said. "Hey, Galaxy, can you light up your horn? That way we'll be able to see and warm up at the same time."

"No, I don't think that's a good idea," Galaxy said. "This is a thin hallway, it's made out of ice, and it's the base of the castle. If I light up and heat up the room, the walls could melt and the castle would come crashing down on us."

"That is _not_ something I'd like to think about," Luigi said.

Finally, the rescue party managed to find a staircase and they climbed up. Things were starting to get lighter, but nobody knew where they were going.

"What do we do now?" Surprise asked.

"We split up," Mario said. "Megan, Sundance, Firefly, Surprise, Locket, and Gusty come with me and we'll take the right hallway. The rest of you go down the left hallway and we'll meet in the center."

"Check," Cupcake said.

"Wait a minute . . . ." Luigi started, but Mario and his group was already gone. Cupcake and Ribbon practically had to drag Luigi by the overall straps to get him moving.


	5. Chapter 5

"How are we ever going to find Ember in all this?" Fizzy asked. "There are twists and turns everywhere."

"I can sense there's something ahead," Galaxy said. "But I'm not sure what it is."

"I'll see if I can pick up something telepathically," Ribbon said. She made her horn light up and concentrated. She ended up being able to read someone's mind.

_Oh, I hope Frostina doesn't catch me trying to find that baby pony's friends and then helping them stop the endless winter!_

Suddenly, a white pony ran around the corner and crashed directly into Ribbon, who knocked into Fizzy, who hit Cupcake, who fell on Galaxy, who smacked into Buttons, who backed into Luigi, and all of them fell.

_THUD!_

"Now _that's_ what I call a head on collision," Luigi said.

"Who are you?" Ribbon asked the pony.

"Umm," the white pony said, a little nervously. "My name's Rainbow."

"Do you live here?" Fizzy asked.

"Yes," Rainbow said. "But I used to live in Dream Castle."

"How come we've never seen you before if you used to live in Dream Castle?" Cupcake asked.

"It was a long time ago," Rainbow said. "But there's no time to explain. You have to come with me!"

"Why?" Buttons asked.

"Because a baby pony's in danger," Rainbow said. "I can help you stop the winter if you help me set my brother free."

"Sure," Fizzy said. "Come on, everybody!"

Everyone followed Rainbow up to the main hallway. There were several ice sculptures on columns that lined the hall. The one over the doorway was shaped like a Big Brother pony.

"That's my brother," Rainbow said, pointing to the pony sculpture. "Frostina tried this endless winter spell before and needed a baby pony it. She came to Dream Valley one day while I was playing with my friends, Glory, Bubbles, and Skydancer and she captured me. She was able to make it winter for awhile, until my brother came to the rescue with the Rainbow of Light he got from the Moochick. Frostina got mad, and tried to destroy the Rainbow of Light. Luckily, he threw it out the window and it was caught by a baby sea pony named Wave Jumper, and she took it back to the Moochick. Frostina got so mad, she turned my brother into that ice sculpture you see up there, and I've been Frostina's slave ever since."

"Wow," Fizzy said.

"Don't worry, Rainbow," Buttons said. "When this is all over, you can come and live with us in Paradise Estate. Your brother, too."

"Thank you, Buttons," Rainbow said. "Come on. Let's go find the baby!"

Rainbow pushed open the door. There was a staircase that led downstairs.

"What's down there?" Galaxy asked.

"This staircase leads to the dungeon," Rainbow said. "I have to warn you, these stairs aren't even."

"That doesn't surprise me," Luigi muttered.

"Come on, everybody," Buttons said.

Luigi sighed, started down the stairs carefully. Fizzy lit up her horn so they could have some light. A couple of tiny bubbles came out, but that didn't bother anyone.

"Fizzy, get in front," Ribbon said. "That way you can lead the way."

"Okay," Fizzy said. She darted down the stairs and her bubbles trailed behind her. One of them landed on Luigi's nose.

"Oh no," he groaned, building up to a rather large sneeze. "Aaah-ahh-ahh-"

"Uh oh," Buttons said.

"I don't like the sound of that," Cupcake said.

"Aaahh-ahh-ahhh . . . ." Luigi couldn't hold it in much longer. "Aaah-choo!"

Thanks to the force of the sneeze and the uneven steps, Luigi fell and crashed directly into Fizzy. Both of them hit their heads on the wall.

"Bless you," Fizzy said, dazed.

"Oohhh," Luigi moaned, rubbing the side of his head. "I'm gonna have a headache in the morning."

"Now I know another thing Fizzy's bubbles can do," Buttons said. "Make people sneeze."

"Are you two okay?" Cupcake asked, as she and the other ponies ran down the stairs.

"I will be," Luigi said. "Once this whole mess is over with!"

"I know," Ribbon said. "But we can't stop until we find Ember."

"Follow me," Rainbow said.

The group followed Rainbow into another tunnel. There were doors leading everywhere. Luigi looked through the windows. They went down the entire hallway with almost no trace of anybody. Finally, he reached the last door in the hallway. He peeked in.

"Hey, there's something in here," he said.

"What?" Fizzy asked.

"Baby pony, purple body, pink hair," Luigi said. "Is she the one who needs rescuing?"

"That's Ember," Cupcake said. "Now all we have to do is open the door."

"That's gonna be easier said than done," Luigi said, looking at the lock. "This thing isn't gonna open without a key."

"How do we get the key?" Fizzy asked.

"You don't," said a voice. Everyone turned around and saw Frostina in the hallway.

"You had to go and lead these creatures to the baby, didn't you, Rainbow?" she asked. "I should melt your brother for that! But I won't. You'll just join the baby for now."

Frostina opened the dungeon door and blasted the group into the dungeon with her wind. Then she locked the door, laughed, and walked back up the stairs.

"The big bully!" Fizzy shouted. Ribbon and Luigi walked over to Ember.

"Hi," Luigi said, softly. He didn't want to scare the baby pony. Ember just backed away and whimpered.

"Was it something I said?" Luigi asked.

"It's all right, Ember," Ribbon said, nuzzling the baby pony. "This is Luigi. He's a friend. There's no need to be afraid of him. He's going to help us get out of here and go home, okay?"

"Okay," Ember said.

"Now the first thing to do is don't be scared," Ribbon said. I know dungeons are dark and dank and really creepy, but the most important thing about them is there's nothing that can hurt you in here."

"Y-y-yeah . . . ." Luigi said, nervously. "N-n-nothing that can hurt you in . . . . yikes!"

Luigi tripped over something under a bunch of straw on the floor. He moved it around, and wound up digging out a skeleton. Both he and Ember screamed.

"It's okay!" Buttons shouted, trying to restore a little order. "It's only a skeleton. It won't hurt you! It's already dead!"

"I wonder how long the poor guy's been in here?" Galaxy asked

"About five hundred years," the skeleton said, standing up and stretching. "Give or take a century."

"Ahh!" Luigi shouted, practically jumping to the ceiling.

Ember was so scared, she burst into hysterical tears. Ribbon sat down next to her and did her best to calm her down.

"Buttons, think you can tear that thing apart?" Cupcake asked. "The thought of a talking skeleton makes me nervous."

"Check!" Buttons shouted. She made her horn light up and she took the skeleton apart, bit by bit.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" the skeleton shouted. His head popped off and rolled toward Ribbon, Luigi, and Ember.

"Hiya," it said. "How ya doing?"

Luigi nearly fainted. Ember nearly broke glass with the scream she let out, and began crying louder.

"Now look what you did!" Buttons reprimanded the skeleton head. "You made a poor little baby pony cry!"

"Sorry," the skeleton said. "I was only trying to be friendly."

"Never mind," Luigi said. "Just get it outta here!"

"Ooohhhh," Cupcake moaned, as Buttons managed to squeeze the skeleton head through the bars on the window. "That's the last time I ever want to see a skeleton!"

"Really," Rainbow said. "But how do we get out of here?"

"Can't you unicorns just disappear and reappear outside?" Luigi asked, petting Ember.

"We can't wink through walls," Fizzy said. "We have to be in an open space."

Everyone thought about how to get out of the dungeon when Frostina returned. Ember moved closer to Ribbon.

"I've come for the baby," Frostina said. "It's time."

"Over my dead body!" Luigi shouted, standing in front of Ribbon and Ember.

"That can be arranged," Frostina said.

Frostina lifted her hands. Thunder clapped and lightning crashed. A gust of wind blew in from nowhere. The adult ponies and Luigi were swept into a tornado. Frostina then created another small, and used it to bring Ember to her. Her first tornado subsided then, and Buttons charged her. Frostina closed the door and Buttons banged her head against it.

"Ouch!" she shouted. "Well, there goes another plan down the drain."

"Now what do we do?" Cupcake asked. "We're locked from the inside behind a cast iron door, with bars of ice on the window of it!"

"Did you say bars of ice?" Luigi asked. Cupcake nodded. "I've got it! Galaxy, think you can melt the bars?"

"Maybe," Galaxy said. "But we're all too big to fit through that little window."

"Yeah, well, maybe I can do something about that lock," Luigi said.

"You just remembered you have a lock pick?" Buttons asked.

"No, but I've got something that could work," Luigi said, picking up a couple of bones from the skeleton. "One skeleton key coming up!"

The others groaned at Luigi's joke, as the green-clad began using some of his plumbing tools in his overalls pockets to fashion a key out of one of the skeleton's bones. Once it was ready, Galaxy stood on her hind legs and leaned against the iron door. The tip of her horn reached the bars and she made her horn light up. Heat generated from it, melting the ice bars. Then, she got down on all fours and let Luigi stand on her back as he reached out the window, and began fiddling with the lock. After a lot of maneuvering, he finally managed to get it unlocked.

"Never underestimate a well-prepared plumber," he said.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Cupcake shouted.


	6. Chapter 6

The group ran down the next hallway, Rainbow leading the way to the throne room. However, they heard footsteps down the next hall.

"Someone's coming!" Galaxy shouted.

"Everybody get back!" Buttons ordered. "It's probably Frostina. I'll jump her."

"Be careful, Buttons," Fizzy said.

The footsteps came closer. Buttons jumped out of the corner.

"CHARGE!" she shouted.

"Ahhh!" a male voice shrieked. "Hey! It's me, Mario!"

"Oops," Buttons said, getting off the red-clad plumber.. "Sorry, Mario. I thought you were Frostina."

"Well, I'm not," Mario said, brushing off his overalls. "Speaking of which, have you seen her?"

"Yeah," Luigi said. "She just ran for her throne room, with the baby."

"'How do we get to the throne room?"

"Rainbow's gonna lead us."

"Who?"

Luigi introduced Rainbow to Mario and the others, and they were off. Rainbow led the rescue party to the throne room. They saw Frostina mixing her goop in her cauldron.

"We've got to stop her from putting Ember's spirit in her spell," Firefly said.

"How are we going to do that?" Surprise asked.

"Maybe Buttons can turn over her soup," Mario said. "With that horn of hers."

"Well, I don't know," Buttons said. "It's a good plan, but I don't know if I can do it."

"Come on, Buttons," Gusty said. "I've seen you move heavy objects before."

"Well, okay. But I'm going to need total concentration."

Buttons took a deep breath and concentrated as hard as she could. It wasn't easy, but she managed to lift the cauldron a little off the ground.

"What the . . ." Frostina asked.

"This is great!" Mario shouted. "Now, Fizzy, make the soup bubble."

"Sure!" Fizzy said. She closed her eyes and made the soup bubble. Frostina wasn't amused.

"This is too funny," Mario laughed. Fizzy giggled too, but suddenly, she forgot what she was doing and a few stray bubbles came from her horn and flew all over the place. One landed on Luigi's nose, and he started to build up a sneeze

"Oh no," Buttons groaned. "Not again!"

"Ahh-ahh-ahh . . . . ." Luigi began to sneeze. "Ahhh-ahh-ahh-choo!"

"Gesundheit," Gusty said.

"Thanks," Luigi said. "I must be allergic to pony bubbles."

"I'm allergic to pigs, myself," Gusty said.

"What was that?" Frostina asked.

"Now I've done it!" Luigi groaned.

Frostina walked over to the hallway. Sundance was ready, however. She reached her neck out and bit Frostina on the ankle as hard as she could.

"Ouch!" she shouted. "You!"

"Surprise!" Surprise shouted, flying up. She kicked Frostina in the stomach, then followed the others toward the throne room.

"Hi, Ember!" Surprise shouted. "I bet you're surprised to see us!"

"Yay!" Ember cheered.

"Now let me see," Mario said, "how do I get the chains off?"

"With a key," Ember said. "Duh!"

"Only a baby and already she's a smart aleck," Mario said, rolling his eyes.

"But where are the keys?" Surprise asked.

"I don't know what Frostina does with them when she finished using them," Rainbow said, coming into the room with the others.

"What did you do with that 'skeleton key,' Luigi?" Ribbon asked.

"I think I threw it back into the dungeon," Luigi said, sheepishly. "Ah-heh-heh-heh."

"Oh yeah, _that_ helps," Mario said, sarcastically. "But no problem. I've got a hacksaw right here."

"The rest of us better look for a key," Luigi said. "It could take awhile for Mario to cut through those chains!"

Immediately, the ponies and their friends began searching the throne room for the key that would unlock the chain. Unfortunately, while they were in the middle of searching, Frostina reentered the room, and she was not happy.

"Why I oughta . . . . ." she said.

"Surprise, distract her!" Mario shouted.

"Well, okay," Surprise said. She flew into the air and circled Frostina.

"Bet you can't catch me!" she shouted. Then she darted from the throne room. Frostina chased after her.

"I don't know how long she can last," Luigi said.

"Probably for a good long while," Buttons replied. "Surprise has an endless source of energy."

"We'll worry about that later," Firefly said. "We've got more important things to do now."

"Right," Locket agreed. "Like reversing this endless winter spell."

"But how are we going to do that?" Cupcake asked.

"First of all we have to find Frostina's spell book," Megan said. "And then we look up the endless winter spell and see how to reverse it."

"You know you're a pretty smart cookie for a girl your age," Luigi said. "Rainbow, you know this ice castle better than we do. Where's the spell book?"

"On the podium right behind you," Rainbow said.

Luigi picked up the spell book and he and Megan looked through it.

"Haven't you guys found the key _yet_?!" Mario shouted. "My hacksaw isn't working!"

"We're looking! We're looking!" Gusty yelled.

"Why doesn't one of us unicorns try to jimmy the lock with our horns?" Fizzy suggested.

"Fizzy, that's the most sensible thing you've ever said!" Gusty exclaimed. "Get over there and jimmy the lock."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the one who thought of the idea."

"Oh."

Buttons went to the door and acted as the lookout. Luigi and Megan looked through the book, and Rainbow helped.

"Hold it!" Megan shouted. "Here it is! To destroy the endless winter spell, we have to break the source of Frostina's power."

"That's her crystal orb and her amulet," Rainbow said. "It will break all the spells she's ever cast."

"And it just might destroy Frostina herself," Ribbon said. "We have to break that amulet and that orb."

"That won't be easy," Locket said.

"We've already destroyed her soup," Mario said. "I wouldn't worry. Breaking an amulet will be easy!"

"Hey guys!" Surprise shouted. "Hurry up in there! I can't keep her on the run much longer!"

"Lead her in here!" Buttons called. "We know how to end the endless winter spell!"

Surprise flew into the throne room and crash landed on Mario. She was tired.

"Hey!" Mario shouted, straining. "Get off my back!"

"Sorry," Surprise said.

Frostina entered the room. She growled and went for her spell book. Mario grabbed it and began a game of Monkey in the Middle. He threw it to Megan, and she threw it to Firefly.

"Try and get it from up here!" the pink Pegasus shouted.

"I will!" Frostina said. She pointed her finger and ice beams flew from it. Firefly dodged them. However, one of the beams hit Firefly's wing, and she screamed, dropping the spell book, directly above Buttons.

"Buttons! Watch out!" Luigi warned.

"Huh?" Buttons asked.

But it was a little late. The book bounced off the lavender unicorn and knocked her unconscious. Luigi picked up the book and threw it to Ribbon. She caught it, and Frostina ran to her. Cupcake, Locket, and the remaining unicorns started passing it to each other as fast as they could. Mario snuck up behind Frostina and tried to unhook the amulet. He figured he'd destroy that first. Unfortunately, Frostina felt someone behind her. She whirled around, and caught Mario in the act.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded.

"Stopping you," Mario answered. "What else?"

"Fizzy, I'll throw the book to Firefly," Gusty said. "And she'll drop it and then catch it in a bubble."

"Okay," Fizzy said.

Gusty took the book and tossed it. Fizzy prepared the make the bubble. Firefly dropped the book and it landed in the bubble.

"Don't think you'll beat me that easy," Frostina said. She zapped the bubble and the book was now set in ice.

"Great," Mario said, sarcastically.

Frostina aimed it for Mario, but he ducked, and it hit the wall, smashing right through it. Inside the wall was another block of ice. Inside of it was a key.

"Galaxy, melt the ice in the wall!" Megan shouted.

"Right, Megan!" Galaxy shouted. She ran for the wall. Frostina was ready to stop her, but Rainbow tackled her.

"Rainbow!" Frostina shouted.

"I'm not gonna let you create endless winter again!" Rainbow shouted.

Galaxy picked up the key in her mouth and threw it to Luigi. The green-clad plumber unlocked Ember's chains in no time. Since Rainbow had tackled Frostina, Mario had an easier time getting the amulet. Then Rainbow ran to the orb.

"On my count," Mario said, "we'll smash 'em at the same time! Ready?"

"Ready!" Rainbow said.

"One, two, three!"

Mario threw the amulet against the wall and Rainbow knocked the orb off it's perch. Both of them smashed into pieces.

"No!" Frostina shouted. "My beautiful winter! NOOOO!"

In a flash of light, Frostina exploded, becoming nothing but snow flurries.

"We did it!" Fizzy cheered. "We stopped the endless winter!"

Suddenly, the Ice Palace began to shake and crumble. Drops of water fell on everyone's heads.

"What's happening?" Cupcake asked.

"The castle's melting!" Buttons shouted.

"Everybody out!" Mario shouted.

Everybody started to run as fast as they could. Beams from the ceiling were beginning to fall. Everyone had to duck and dodge to avoid getting hit by one.

"Holy ravioli!" Luigi shouted, just as a beam missed him by a hair. "That was a little too close for comfort!"

"Come on!" Rainbow shouted. "Don't stop running!"

Everyone continued running before the castle smashed to the ground. Mario put Ember on Firefly's back, and jumped on. Luigi jumped on Surprise, and Megan climbed onto Sundance. The Pegasus ponies flew off. The unicorns winked out. The earth ponies jumped.

"Jump, Rainbow!" Fizzy shouted.

"I can't!" Rainbow shouted. "I'm afraid of heights!"

"You have to jump before the whole castle caves in!" Mario called.

Rainbow jumped. It was indeed now or never. She took a deep breath, and backed up. She made a giant leap before the castle came crashing down. Instead of the ground, she was heading towards the moat.

"I can't look!" Luigi shouted covering his eyes.

"Rainbow!" Fizzy gasped.

Suddenly, a spout of water filled the air, and caught Rainbow.

"Shoop-ee-doo, shoop-shoop-ee-doo! Shoop-ee-doo, shoop-shoop-ee-doo!"

The Sea Ponies popped out of the water with a friendly whale besides them. Rainbow was sitting on top of the spout the whale was making, riding it. She was giggling.

"This is fun!" she laughed.

"Rainbow!" Buttons shouted.

"You're okay!" Fizzy exclaimed.

Everybody cheered. Suddenly, the sun shone through the clouds, and the snow began to melt.

"At last!" Locket shouted. "Finally, it's spring again!"

"You did good, kid," Mario said to Rainbow. "You're a real hero."

"You can say that again," a masculine voice said in the distance. Everyone turned and saw what resembled a Big Brother pony. He was white with rainbow colored hair and tail. He had a basketball on his hind quarters.

"Jump Shot!" Rainbow exclaimed, running to him. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Me too, sis," Jump Shot said, nuzzling his sister.

"I missed you _so _much!"

"I did, too."

The two of them nuzzled for a while. Then Megan suggested they head back to Paradise Estate. Mario and Luigi mounted Surprise and Buttons, and everyone went off.


	7. Chapter 7

All the ponies at the Estate were standing outside, as well as Molly, Danny, Spike, Princess Toadstool, and Toad, waiting for our heroes to return. They were all cheering.

"They did it!" Glory shouted.

"It's Spring!" Baby Lofty shouted.

"Ember, I'm so happy you're all right!" Twilight shouted, nuzzling her surrogate daughter.

"She was going crazy," Truly told the baby pony.

"I was not!" Twilight retorted.

"Are you kidding?!" Toad shouted. "Twilight, you were going around the Estate shouted 'my baby! My baby! My poor baby!' I was gonna go nuts!"

Twilight poked Toad gently in the side with her horn. Everyone laughed. That night, the ponies held a party, and the Mario Bros. were the guests of honor.

"We really don't want you to go," Cupcake said. "You helped us save Ponyland."

"We'd really like to stay," Mario said. "But we've got to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Uhh, guys," Toad said. "I don't know how we're gonna get back. After all, Frostina's spell brought us here, and we don't know if the Mushroom Kingdom is even in the same dimension as Ponyland!"

"You mean we're stuck here?!" Luigi shouted.

"Yay!" Baby Tiddlywinks shouted. "Now Mario Brothers and Toad and Princess stay!"

"But we _can't_ stay," Princess Toadstool said, petting Baby Tiddlywinks, gently. "If I don't get back to my kingdom, the evil King Koopa might find out I'm gone, and he'll come take it over and enslave my people!"

"Yeah, and we _can't_ let that happen!" Mario shouted.

"I should say not!" North Star shouted. "But I think I might have an idea."

"What's that, North Star?" Mario asked.

"Perhaps we can use the magic of the Rainbow of Light," North star continued. "Maybe it could find the way to the Mushroom Kingdom."

"I guess it could," Galaxy said. "The rainbow is powerful enough. It wouldn't hurt to try, anyway."

Megan took the heart-shaped locket, and opened it. The Rainbow of Light came out, and then flew out a window.

"After it!" Mario shouted.

Immediately, Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Toadstool, Megan, and some of the ponies chased after the Rainbow of Light. They caught up to it in a desolate field, hovering. Once our heroes got there, the Rainbow formed a circle, and floated down to the ground. It began vibrating a little, and then flew into the air. Right behind it, a large, green pipe sprouted up from the ground.

"What's that?" Masquerade asked.

"I don't believe it!" Mario shouted. "It's a Warp Pipe!"

"It's how we get around from world to world where we come from," Toad said. "I swear, these things pop up everywhere!"

"I wasn't expecting to find one here, though," Luigi said.

"And why not?" Mario asked. "If there are warp zones in Brooklyn, who says there can't be warp zones in Ponyland?"

"Does this mean you'll come back and see us?" Fizzy asked.

"Why not?" Toad said, shrugging. "After all, stranger things _have_ happened! Mostly to us . . . ."

"Yeah, well, we've got to get going," Mario said, then he turned to the ponies. "See you around, paisanos!"

"So long!" Luigi shouted, jumping into the warp pipe after his brother.

"Bye!" Princess Toadstool shouted, as she jumped into the pipe, followed by Toad.

A short ride later, Princess Toadstool, Toad, and the Mario Bros. found themselves back in the Mushroom Kingdom, in front of Princess Toadstool's Castle.

"Home sweet home!" Toad shouted.

"Yeah, and it's good to be back," Mario said.

"So long as Koopa's not around, anyway," Luigi pointed out.

Before anyone could say another word, Toad's friend, Toadette, came around the corner.

"_There_ you are!" she shouted. "I've been looking for you guys all day! Where have you been?"

"Trust me, Toadette," Toad said, "you wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

The End


End file.
